Mobile wireless communications device with slidable configuration providing hearing aid compatibility features and related methods

ABSTRACT

A mobile wireless communications device is for a user wearing an electronic hearing aid adjacent an ear of the user and may include an upper housing and a lower housing being slidably connected together for sliding between a retracted position and an extended use position. An audio output transducer may be carried by the upper housing and accessible to the hearing aid of the user adjacent a top end of the upper housing, and an audio input transducer may be carried by the lower housing and accessible to a mouth of the user adjacent a bottom end of the lower housing. An antenna may be carried by the lower housing adjacent the bottom end thereof so that the hearing aid is further separated from the antenna when the upper and lower housings are in the extended use position to reduce undesired coupling from the antenna to the hearing aid.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of communications devices,and, more particularly, to mobile wireless communications devices andrelated methods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cellular communications systems continue to grow in popularity and havebecome an integral part of both personal and business communications.Cellular telephones allow users to place and receive voice calls mostanywhere they travel. Moreover, as cellular telephone technology hasincreased, so too has the functionality of cellular devices. Forexample, many cellular devices now incorporate personal digitalassistant (PDA) features such as calendars, address books, task lists,etc. Moreover, such multi-function devices may also allow users towirelessly send and receive electronic mail (email) messages and accessthe Internet via a cellular network.

Even so, as the functionality of cellular communications devicescontinues to increase, so too does the demand for smaller devices whichare easier for users to carry. As a result, one style of cellulartelephones which has gained wide popularity is the folding or “flip”phone. Flip phones typically have an upper housing with a display andspeaker, and a lower housing or flap which carries the microphone. Thekeypad of such phones may be on either the upper housing or the lowerhousing, depending upon the particular model. The lower flap isconnected to the upper housing by a hinge so that when not in use theupper and lower housings can be folded together to be more compact.

One example of a flip phone is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,061 toPye et al. The phone has two antennas, a first one of which is mountedon the lower flap and includes a ground plane and an active monopole fedby a coaxial feed from electronic circuitry inside the phone. The flapis pivotally connected to the main or upper section of the housing, andis folded against the main section when not in use. Another similarantenna is fitted in the main section, and both antennas are connectedto transceiver circuitry in the phone. The antennas are designed tointroduce deliberate mismatch to provide an effective switching systembetween the antennas without the need for separate circuit elements.Other examples of flip phones are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,557,293and 6,741,215.

Another compact style of cellular telephone is the so-called slidingphone. Sliding phones have upper and lower housings which are slidablyconnected to one another so that one housing slides over top of theother, and they slide relative to one another between a retractedposition and an extended position. As such, these phones may alsoprovide a relatively compact footprint when in the retracted position.Examples of sliding phones include the SL55 from Siemens Corporation,and the SCH-N330 from Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

One potential drawback of compact cellular telephone designs is thatusers with hearing aids may have difficulties using such phones. Thatis, the compact nature of such phones may place the user's hearing aidin close proximity to the phone's antenna. This, in turn, can causeundesired interference, which results in harmonics being introduced intothe hearing aid. One approach for addressing this problem on a cellulartelephone with an external antenna is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,819,162 to Spann et al., in which an electromagnetic interference(EMI) shield is mounted on a flap that extends away from the base of thephone during operation to form an enclosure about the user's ear forshielding the user's hearing aid from EMI. However, such a configurationmay not be feasible on compact sliding phones which have internal,printed circuit board (PCB) style antennas.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing background, it is therefore an object of thepresent invention to provide a relatively compact mobile wirelesscommunications device, such as a cellular telephone, which is alsowell-suited for use with electronic hearing aids and related methods.

This and other objects, features, and advantages in accordance with thepresent invention are provided by a mobile wireless communicationsdevice for a user wearing an electronic hearing aid adjacent an ear ofthe user. The mobile wireless communications device may include an upperhousing and a lower housing being slidably connected together forsliding relative to one another between a retracted position and anextended use position. The upper and lower housings may each haverespective top and bottom ends, and the top end of the upper housing maybe further separated from the bottom end of the lower housing when inthe extended use position as compared to the retracted position.

The mobile wireless communications device may further include an audiooutput transducer carried by the upper housing and accessible to theelectronic hearing aid of the user adjacent the top end of the upperhousing. An audio input transducer may be carried by the lower housingand accessible to a mouth of the user adjacent the bottom end of thelower housing. Furthermore, an antenna may be carried by the lowerhousing adjacent the bottom end thereof so that the electronic hearingaid of the user is further separated from the antenna when the upper andlower housings are in the extended use position. Accordingly, undesiredcoupling from the antenna to the electronic hearing aid is therebyreduced.

More particularly, the bottom of the upper housing may overlap the topof the lower housing in the extended use position defining an overlapregion, and the antenna may be below the overlap region. A wirelesscircuit board may be carried by the lower housing, and at least onewireless communications circuit may be carried by the wirelesscommunications circuit board. The at least one wireless communicationscircuit may be connected to the antenna.

In addition, the antenna may be carried within the lower housing. Theantenna may include a dielectric substrate and a plurality of conductivetraces on the dielectric substrate, for example. Moreover, the antennamay be a multi-frequency band antenna, and it may include a single turn,main loop conductor having a gap therein defining first and second endsof the main loop conductor.

The mobile wireless communications device may further include a releasecatch for allowing movement of the upper housing and the lower housingbetween the retracted to the extended position. A display may be carriedby the upper housing, while an input keypad and a battery may be carriedby the lower housing. The input keypad may include a plurality ofmulti-symbol keys. Moreover, the symbols may be letters, and themulti-symbol keys may be arranged to define a QWERTY layout.Additionally, at least some of the multi-symbol keys may have numericindicia thereon, and the at least some multi-symbol keys may be arrangedto define a telephone keypad layout.

Method aspects of the invention include making a mobile wirelesscommunications device, such as the one described briefly above, as wellas making such a device hearing aid compatible by positioning theantenna therein as also briefly described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mobile wireless communications devicein accordance with the present invention next to a user wearing anelectronic hearing aid.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the mobile wireless communications device ofFIG. 1 in a retracted position.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the mobile wireless communications device ofFIG. 1 in an extended use position.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the mobile wireless communicationsdevice of FIG. 1 in the extended use position.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of the mobile wirelesscommunications device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary antenna for use with themobile wireless communications device of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are perspective views of a PCB implementation of theantenna of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram illustrating exemplary components ofa mobile wireless communications device in accordance with the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodimentsof the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Likenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 through 5, a mobile wirelesscommunications device, such as a cellular telephone 20, is for a user 21wearing an electronic hearing aid 22 adjacent an ear 23 of the user. Thecellular telephone 20 is a sliding phone which illustratively includesan upper housing 24 and a lower housing 25 being slidably connectedtogether for sliding relative to one another between a retractedposition (FIG. 2) and an extended use position (FIG. 3). A release catch40 allows movement of the upper housing 24 and the lower housing 25between the retracted and extended use positions, as will be appreciatedby those skilled in the art.

The upper and lower housings 24, 25 each have respective top and bottomends 26 t, 26 b and 27 t, 27 b (see FIG. 5). The top end 26 t of theupper housing 24 is further separated from the bottom end 27 b of thelower housing 25 when in the extended use position as compared to theretracted position. When in the extended user position, an input keypad41 carried by the lower housing 25 becomes accessible to the user. Asshown in FIG. 3, the keypad 41 may include multi-symbol alphanumerickeys 90 that may be used not only for dialing telephone numbers, butalso for sending e-mail or text messages, accessing an address orcontact book, and running other applications (games, calendars, etc.),as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. An on/off button 45and scroll buttons 46, 47 are carried by the upper housing 24 and areaccessible to the user 21 in both the retracted and extended usepositions. The scroll buttons 46, 47 may be used for selecting menuoptions, e-mail messages, etc.

In particular, the multi-symbol keys 90 are arranged in the first (i.e.,top) three rows on the keypad 41 (although other function keys arelocated in these rows as well). Furthermore, the letter symbols on eachof the keys 90 are arranged to define a QWERTY layout. That is, theletters on the keypad 41 are presented in a three-row format, with theletters of each row being in the same order and relative position as ina standard QWERTY keyboard or keypad.

The first three rows of keys are further arranged in five columns. Themulti-symbol keys 90 in the second, third, and fourth columns of thefirst, second, and third rows have numeric indicia thereon (i.e., 1through 9) accessible by first actuating the NUM key in the third row.Together with the star (“*”), space/0, and shift/pound (“#”) keys in thefourth row, these keys define a standard telephone keypad layout, aswould be found on a traditional touch-tone telephone, as will beappreciated by those skilled in the art.

One particularly advantageous reason for placing multiple letters on thekeys 90 is so that less than a full set of QWERTY keys, as found on atraditional computer/typewriter keyboard, can be used to access all ofthe English alphabet letters. This advantageously allows the footprintof the keypad 41 to remain relatively small which, in turn, allows theoverall size of the cellular telephone 20 to be decreased as well.

Yet, placing multiple symbols on a single key may make typing (e.g.,typing emails) more difficult for users. To make typing easier, thecontroller/microprocessor of the mobile wireless communications device20 preferably allows symbols/text to be entered in two different modes,namely a multi-tap mode and a predictive mode. In the multi-tap mode, auser enters a desired symbol by pressing a given key a number of timescorresponding to its position on the key. Thus, for example, for a userto enter a “W,” he would press the QW key twice.

When in the predictive mode, the controller/microprocessoradvantageously generates a menu of possible desired words using a storeddictionary of words based upon the key combination that is pressed. Asthe user presses more keys 90, the possible choices are refined andnarrowed. The words in the menu may also be editable so that the usercan still enter a desired word or character string even if it is not inthe dictionary, for example, as will be appreciated by the skilled inthe art.

The cellular telephone 20 also illustratively includes an audio outputtransducer 28 (e.g., a speaker) carried by the upper housing 24 andaccessible to the electronic hearing aid 22 of the user 21 adjacent thetop end 26 t of the upper housing. Holes 48 may be formed in the upperhousing 24 to allow sound from the audio output transducer 28 to passtherethrough to the ear 23 of the user 21. An audio input transducer 29is carried by the lower housing 25 and accessible to a mouth 31 of theuser 21 adjacent the bottom end 27 b of the lower housing 25.

Furthermore, an antenna 35 is illustratively carried by the lowerhousing 25 adjacent the bottom end 27 b thereof so that the electronichearing aid 22 of the user 21 is further separated from the antenna whenthe upper and lower housings are in the extended use position. Becauseof the increased separation thus achieved between the antenna 35 and theelectronic hearing aid 22 when in the extended use position, thecellular telephone 20 advantageously reduces undesired coupling from theantenna to the electronic hearing aid without the need for specialshielding arrangements. Yet, this is done while retaining the benefitsof the relatively compact sliding configuration.

More particularly, the bottom 26 b of the upper housing 24 overlaps thetop 27 t of the lower housing 25 in the extended use position to definean overlap region 36 (FIG. 5), and the antenna 35 is illustrativelypositioned below the overlap region. The cellular telephone 20 furtherillustratively includes a wireless circuit board 37 (e.g., a printedcircuit board (PCB)) carried by the lower housing 25, with one or morewireless communications circuits 38 thereon, such as a wirelesstransceiver, connected to the antenna 35. An exemplary implementation ofthe wireless communications circuitry 38 will be discussed furtherbelow.

A display 39 (e.g., an LCD display) is also illustratively carried bythe upper housing 24 and connected to the circuitry 38. Moreover, abattery 42 is also illustratively carried by the lower housing 25 forpowering the circuitry 38 and display 39. It should be noted that whilethe battery 42 is illustratively shown as being on the wireless circuitboard 37 in FIG. 5, the battery need not be carried by the wirelesscircuit board 37 and is preferably removably connected thereto so thatit may be replaced, etc., rather than being connected by a solderconnection as the circuitry 38, for example.

The antenna 35 is preferably an internal PCB antenna, in that it iscarried within the lower housing 25 and is formed by a plurality ofconductive traces on a dielectric substrate, i.e., on the dielectricsubstrate of the wireless circuit board 37. Generally speaking, internalantennas are more convenient for users because they are less likely toget caught on other objects and allow a cellular telephone to have asmaller footprint than externally mounted antennas. Typically, internalPCB antennas are mounted at the top of the PCB of a cellular telephoneadjacent the speaker. In the case of the above-noted Samsung SCH-N330and Siemens SL55 sliding phones, the antennas are mounted at the top ofthe PCB within the overlap region between the upper and lower housings.Yet, as noted above, this places the antenna in relatively closeproximity to the speaker, which may lead to undesirable coupling to thehearing aid of a user. However, the positioning of the antenna 35adjacent a bottom end of the lower housing portion in the cellulartelephone 20 advantageously reduces such coupling, while still allowinghearing impaired users to enjoy the compact profile of a slidingcellular telephone.

An exemplary implementation of the antenna 35 is now discussed withreference to FIGS. 6 through 8. More particularly, a basictwo-dimensional (2D) layout of the antenna 35 is shown in FIG. 6 forclarity of illustration, and a three-dimensional (3D) implementationthereof is illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8. The antenna 35 is preferably amulti-frequency band antenna which provides enhanced transmission andreception characteristics over multiple operating frequencies. Moreparticularly, the antenna 35 is designed to provide high gain, a lowspecific absorption ratio (SAR), and a wide bandwidth over multiplecellular bands. By way of example, the antenna 35 preferably operatesover five bands, namely a 850 MHz Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) band, a 900 MHz GSM band, a DCS band, a PCS band,and a WCDMA band (i.e., up to about 2100 MHz), although it may be usedfor other bands/frequencies as well.

To conserve space, the antenna 35 may advantageously be implemented inthree dimensions, as noted above. That is, the antenna 35 illustrativelyincludes a first section 61 on the PCB 37. A second section 62 wrapsaround from the PCB 37 onto an antenna retainer frame 63 and defines amain loop 64 of the antenna 35. The first and second sections 61, 62 ofthe antenna 35 may be formed using printed or patterned conductivecircuit traces, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

More particularly, the second section 62 is positioned on a first side65 of the retainer frame 63 that is perpendicular to the PCB 37. Thisadvantageously allows the overall footprint of the antenna 35 on the top(i.e., circuitry) side of the PCB 37 to be significantly reduced.Portions of the main loop 64 may also wrap around onto a second side 66of the retainer frame 36 to provide still further space savings, as willbe discussed further below. It should be noted, however, that theantenna 35 may be implemented in two dimensions (i.e., where the firstand second sections 61, 62 are in the same plane), in certainembodiments if enough space is available, and that other 3Dconfigurations are also possible, as will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art.

The first section 61 generally includes a first branch 70 connecting thewireless communications circuitry 38 (which is generally indicated witha signal source symbol in FIG. 6) to the main loop 64, a second branch71 connecting the main loop to ground (e.g., the ground plane of the PCB37) (see FIG. 11), and a tuning branch 72 also connected to the mainloop. The main loop 64 is defined by sections 75, 79, 74, 80, and 73.The branch 70 may be connected to the wireless communications circuitry38 with or without a passive matching network, as will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art. The branch 71 is preferably connected toground without a matching network, and the tuning branch 72 is floating(i.e., not connected to the wireless communications circuitry 38 orground).

Generally speaking, the length of branches 70, 71, and 72 are used toset the center frequency of operation. The square meandering orback-and-forth patterns of branches 70 and 72 illustrated in FIGS. 7 and8 can be used to change electric length, which varies the centerfrequency. Moreover, different shapes of the branches 70, 71, 72 mayalso be used to provide different frequencies. For example, in additionto the illustrated meandering and straight line shapes, other geometrieswhich may be used for these branches include a saw-toothed or triangularmeander, a branch with a loop, etc. Various other shapes andcombinations thereof may also be used to provide different frequencycharacteristics, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

The branch 72 is positioned between the sections 77 and 78 of the mainloop 64. The position of the branch 72 between sections 77 and 78 mayconveniently be varied without significant effect on frequencyparameters.

The section 73 of the main loop 64 may also be used to control operatingfrequency. A variety of shapes and/or cut-outs may be used for thesection 73. These shapes may include, for example, a “dog bone,” a halfdog bone, a hairpin, a double hairpin, a hairpin with a loop, a meander,and a sawtooth. If an inductor is needed in certain embodiments toadjust S11 noise source impedance and/or widen bandwidth, a loop typepattern may be used, which creates an additional resonant tuning stage,as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. If adequate space isavailable, straight-line portions may be used in the appropriate length.Yet, space is typically at a premium for internal cellular deviceantennas, and particularly so for compact models such as sliding phones,and thus one of the above-described shapes (or others) will likely bepreferred.

The width and shape of the section 74 primarily controls low band gain.The length of section 74 also impacts the operating frequency. However,it should be noted that the lengths of the sections 70, 71, 72, and 73(i.e., the length of the entire antenna 35) also affects the operatingfrequency, as is the case with a typical dipole antenna.

Referring more particularly to the sections 79, 74, and 80 of the mainloop 64, these sections preferably define a continuous loop starting atthe connection point with branch 70 that wraps around and ends at thebranch 71. There is a gap in the main loop between branches 70 and 71 atthe feed point, as seen in FIG. 6. The main loop 64 may be in aplurality of shapes, widths, and thicknesses. By way of example, themain loop 64 may be generally circular, rectangular, square, polygonal,etc., although other shapes may also be used.

Moreover, the section 74 may also have notches, patches, etc. Patchesmay be used to add surface area so that the section 74 can shape thebeam. It should be noted that, in the case of a cellular telephone, thebeam should preferably be directed away from the telephone, i.e.,perpendicular to the plane of the PCB 37. By way of example, the widthof the antenna 35 may be about 7 cm or less, the height of the firstsection 61 may be about 1 to 3 cm, and the height of the second section62 may be about 1 to 3 cm depending upon the given implementation.

Regarding the S11 impedance characteristics, to provide wide bandwidth agood match is needed over the frequency range of interest. Thus, it isdesirable to shrink the S11 circle and then move the shrunken circle tothe 50 Ohm center point, as will be appreciated by those skilled in theart. The area 73, as well as other portions of the antenna 35, may beused to shrink and/or move the S11 circle, which is preferably done in adistributed fashion. Further, the matching network and meanderingportions of the antenna 35 may also be used to move the S11 circletoward the desired 50 Ohm center point. The center of the shrunken S11circle is less critical since it can advantageously be moved toward the50 Ohm point as noted above in accordance with the present invention.

In some embodiments, it may be desirable to use an RF current blockingdevice (i.e., a decoupler/filter) at the connection between the upperand lower housings 24, 25. To provide further noise reduction, in someembodiments the connector traces on the wireless circuit board 37 forthe components in the upper housing 24 may be made perpendicular to thedirection or axis of sliding of the upper housing and lower housing 25,as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Furthermore, thelocation of the connector between the upper and lower housings 24, 25may also affect the amount of RF current coupling, so differentplacements may be desired in different embodiments, as will also beappreciated by those skilled in the art.

General speaking, the above-described antenna 35 allows various shapesand lengths to be utilized to provide appropriate electrical lengths andcurrent distribution. Some shapes are simple delay lines, while othershapes are designed to affect current in a particular area. As notedabove, given unlimited space, many of the shapes and geometriesdescribed above may not be necessary. However, it is within the spaceconstrained environments of mobile wireless communications devices, suchas cellular telephones, where the above-described antenna features areparticularly advantageous for providing desired performance overmultiple operating bands.

Various changes in the basic layout of the antenna 35 may be made incertain embodiments. By way of example, the tuning branch 72 may bemoved so that it extends from section 74 instead of area 73. Otherchanges are also possible, as will be appreciated by those skilled inthe art.

A method aspect of the invention is for making a mobile wirelesscommunications device, such as the cellular telephone 20 discussedabove, for a user 21 wearing an electronic hearing aid 22 adjacent anear 23 of the user. The method may include slidably connecting the upperhousing 24 and the lower housing 25 together for sliding relative to oneanother between the retracted position and the extended use position, asnoted above. Further, the audio output transducer 28 is positionedadjacent the top end 26 t of the upper housing 24 to be accessible tothe electronic hearing aid 22 of the user 21.

Moreover, an audio input transducer 29 is positioned adjacent the bottomend 27 b of the lower housing 25 to be accessible to the mouth 31 of theuser 21. The method further includes positioning the antenna 35 adjacentthe bottom end 27 b of the lower housing 25 so that the electronichearing aid 22 of the user is further separated from the antenna 35 whenthe upper and lower housings 24, 25 are in the extended use position tothereby reduce undesired coupling from the antenna to the electronichearing aid, as discussed above. It should be noted that the foregoingsteps need not be performed in the exact order as described above.

A related method aspect of the invention is for making a mobile wirelesscommunications device, such as the cellular telephone 20 discussedabove, hearing aid compatible for a user wearing an electronic hearingaid 22. The method similarly includes positioning the antenna 35adjacent the bottom end 27 b of the lower housing 25 so that theelectronic hearing aid 22 is further separated from the antenna when theupper and lower housings 24, 25 are in the extended use position.

Exemplary components which may be used in accordance with the presentinvention are now described with reference to a handheld mobile wirelesscommunications device 1000 is shown in FIG. 9. The device 1000 includesa housing 1200, a keyboard 1400 and an output device 1600. The outputdevice shown is a display 1600, which is preferably a full graphic LCD.Other types of output devices may alternatively be utilized. Aprocessing device 1800 is contained within the housing 1200 and iscoupled between the keyboard 1400 and the display 1600. The processingdevice 1800 controls the operation of the display 1600, as well as theoverall operation of the mobile device 1000, in response to actuation ofkeys on the keyboard 1400 by the user.

The housing 1200 may be elongated vertically, or may take on other sizesand shapes (including clamshell housing structures). The keyboard mayinclude a mode selection key, or other hardware or software forswitching between text entry and telephony entry.

In addition to the processing device 1800, other parts of the mobiledevice 1000 are shown schematically in FIG. 9. These include acommunications subsystem 1001; a short-range communications subsystem1020; the keyboard 1400 and the display 1600, along with otherinput/output devices 1060, 1080, 1100 and 1120; as well as memorydevices 1160, 1180 and various other device subsystems 1201. The mobiledevice 1000 is preferably a two-way RF communications device havingvoice and data communications capabilities. In addition, the mobiledevice 1000 preferably has the capability to communicate with othercomputer systems via the Internet.

Operating system software executed by the processing device 1800 ispreferably stored in a persistent store, such as the flash memory 1160,but may be stored in other types of memory devices, such as a read onlymemory (ROM) or similar storage element. In addition, system software,specific device applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarilyloaded into a volatile store, such as the random access memory (RAM)1180. Communications signals received by the mobile device may also bestored in the RAM 1180.

The processing device 1800, in addition to its operating systemfunctions, enables execution of software applications 1300A-1300N on thedevice 1000. A predetermined set of applications that control basicdevice operations, such as data and voice communications 1300A and1300B, may be installed on the device 1000 during manufacture. Inaddition, a personal information manager (PIM) application may beinstalled during manufacture. The PIM is preferably capable oforganizing and managing data items, such as e-mail, calendar events,voice mails, appointments, and task items. The PIM application is alsopreferably capable of sending and receiving data items via a wirelessnetwork 1401. Preferably, the PIM data items are seamlessly integrated,synchronized and updated via the wireless network 1401 with the deviceuser's corresponding data items stored or associated with a hostcomputer system.

Communication functions, including data and voice communications, areperformed through the communications subsystem 1001, and possiblythrough the short-range communications subsystem. The communicationssubsystem 1001 includes a receiver 1500, a transmitter 1520, and one ormore antennas 1540 and 1560. In addition, the communications subsystem1001 also includes a processing module, such as a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 1580, and local oscillators (LOs) 1601. The specificdesign and implementation of the communications subsystem 1001 isdependent upon the communications network in which the mobile device1000 is intended to operate. For example, a mobile device 1000 mayinclude a communications subsystem 1001 designed to operate with theMobitex™, Data TAC™ or General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile datacommunications networks, and also designed to operate with any of avariety of voice communications networks, such as AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, PCS,GSM, etc. Other types of data and voice networks, both separate andintegrated, may also be utilized with the mobile device 1000.

Network access requirements vary depending upon the type ofcommunication system. For example, in the Mobitex and DataTAC networks,mobile devices are registered on the network using a unique personalidentification number or PIN associated with each device. In GPRSnetworks, however, network access is associated with a subscriber oruser of a device. A GPRS device therefore requires a subscriber identitymodule, commonly referred to as a SIM card, in order to operate on aGPRS network.

When required network registration or activation procedures have beencompleted, the mobile device 1000 may send and receive communicationssignals over the communication network 1401. Signals received from thecommunications network 1401 by the antenna 1540 are routed to thereceiver 1500, which provides for signal amplification, frequency downconversion, filtering, channel selection, etc., and may also provideanalog to digital conversion. Analog-to-digital conversion of thereceived signal allows the DSP 1580 to perform more complexcommunications functions, such as demodulation and decoding. In asimilar manner, signals to be transmitted to the network 1401 areprocessed (e.g. modulated and encoded) by the DSP 1580 and are thenprovided to the transmitter 1520 for digital to analog conversion,frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification and transmission tothe communication network 1401 (or networks) via the antenna 1560.

In addition to processing communications signals, the DSP 1580 providesfor control of the receiver 1500 and the transmitter 1520. For example,gains applied to communications signals in the receiver 1500 andtransmitter 1520 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gaincontrol algorithms implemented in the DSP 1580.

In a data communications mode, a received signal, such as a text messageor web page download, is processed by the communications subsystem 1001and is input to the processing device 1800. The received signal is thenfurther processed by the processing device 1800 for an output to thedisplay 1600, or alternatively to some other auxiliary I/O device 1060.A device user may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages,using the keyboard 1400 and/or some other auxiliary I/O device 1060,such as a touchpad, a rocker switch, a thumb-wheel, or some other typeof input device. The composed data items may then be transmitted overthe communications network 1401 via the communications subsystem 1001.

In a voice communications mode, overall operation of the device issubstantially similar to the data communications mode, except thatreceived signals are output to a speaker 1100, and signals fortransmission are generated by a microphone 1120. Alternative voice oraudio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, mayalso be implemented on the device 1000. In addition, the display 1600may also be utilized in voice communications mode, for example todisplay the identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice call,or other voice call related information.

The short-range communications subsystem enables communication betweenthe mobile device 1000 and other proximate systems or devices, whichneed not necessarily be similar devices. For example, the short-rangecommunications subsystem may include an infrared device and associatedcircuits and components, or a Bluetooth communications module to providefor communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come tothe mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachingspresented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings.Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited tothe specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications andembodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appendedclaims.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A mobile wireless communications devicecomprising: an upper housing and a lower housing being coupled forrelative motion between a retracted position and an extended useposition, said upper housing having a top end being further separatedfrom a bottom end of said lower housing when in the extended useposition as compared to the retracted position; an output transducercarried by the top end of said upper housing to be accessible to anelectronic hearing aid; and an antenna within said lower housingcomprising a dielectric substrate and a plurality of conductive tracesthereon defining a main loop conductor having a gap therein.
 2. Themobile wireless communications device of claim 1 wherein said dielectricsubstrate has a non-planar shape.
 3. The mobile wireless communicationsdevice of claim 1 wherein said antenna is operable in at least two of a850 MHz Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) band, a 900 MHzGSM band, a DCS band, a PCS band, and a WCDMA band.
 4. The mobilewireless communications device of claim 1 further comprising: a circuitboard carried by said lower housing; and wireless communicationscircuitry carried by said circuit board and coupled to said antenna. 5.The mobile wireless communications device of claim 4 further comprisinga processor cooperating with said wireless communications circuitry forperforming at least one email function.
 6. The mobile wirelesscommunications device of claim 1 wherein a bottom of said upper housingoverlaps a top of said lower housing in the extended use positiondefining an overlap region; and wherein said antenna is below theoverlap region.
 7. The mobile wireless communications device of claim 1further comprising a release catch for allowing movement of said upperhousing and said lower housing between the retracted and the extendeduse positions.
 8. The mobile wireless communications device of claim 1further comprising a display carried by said upper housing.
 9. Themobile wireless communications device of claim 1 further comprising aninput keypad carried by said lower housing comprising a plurality ofmulti-symbol keys.
 10. The mobile wireless communications device ofclaim 9 wherein the symbols comprise letters; and wherein saidmulti-symbol keys are arranged to define a QWERTY layout.
 11. The mobilewireless communications device of claim 9 wherein at least some of saidmulti-symbol keys have numeric indicia thereon, and wherein the at leastsome multi-symbol keys are arranged to define a telephone keypad layout.12. The mobile wireless communications device of claim 1 furthercomprising a battery carried within said lower housing.
 13. A mobilewireless communications device comprising: an upper housing and a lowerhousing being coupled for relative motion between a retracted positionand an extended use position, said upper housing having a top end beingfurther separated from a bottom end of said lower housing when in theextended use position as compared to the retracted position; an outputtransducer carried by the top end of said upper housing to be accessibleto an electronic hearing aid; wireless communications circuitry; and anantenna within said lower housing and coupled to said wirelesscommunications circuitry, said antenna comprising a non-planardielectric substrate and a plurality of conductive traces thereondefining a main loop conductor having a gap therein.
 14. The mobilewireless communications device of claim 13 wherein said antenna isoperable in at least two of a 850 MHz Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) band, a 900 MHz GSM band, a DCS band, a PCS band,and a WCDMA band.
 15. The mobile wireless communications device of claim13 further comprising a processor cooperating with said wirelesscommunications circuitry for performing at least one email function. 16.The mobile wireless communications device of claim 13 wherein a bottomof said upper housing overlaps a top of said lower housing in theextended use position defining an overlap region; and wherein saidantenna is below the overlap region.
 17. The mobile wirelesscommunications device of claim 13 further comprising a release catch forallowing movement of said upper housing and said lower housing betweenthe retracted and the extended use positions.
 18. A method for making amobile wireless communications device comprising: coupling an upperhousing and a lower housing for relative motion between a retractedposition and an extended use position, said upper housing having a topend being further separated from a bottom end of said lower housing whenin the extended use position as compared to the retracted position;positioning an output transducer to be carried by the top end of saidupper housing to be accessible to an electronic hearing aid; andpositioning an antenna within said lower housing comprising a dielectricsubstrate and a plurality of conductive traces thereon defining a mainloop conductor having a gap therein.
 19. The method of claim 18 whereinthe dielectric substrate has a non-planar shape.
 20. The method of claim18 wherein the antenna is operable in at least two of a 850 MHz GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) band, a 900 MHz GSM band, a DCSband, a PCS band, and a WCDMA band.
 21. The method of claim 18 furthercomprising positioning a circuit board carried by the lower housing, andwith wireless communications circuitry carried by the circuit board andcoupled to the antenna.
 22. The method of claim 21 further comprisingpositioning a processor carried by the circuit board for cooperatingwith the wireless communications circuitry for performing at least oneemail function.
 23. The method of claim 18 wherein a bottom of the upperhousing overlaps a top of the lower housing in the extended use positiondefining an overlap region; and wherein the antenna is below the overlapregion.